Bhujbal in hospital after poor health hints at dengue

MUMBAI: Jailed NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal was admitted to JJ Hospital on Saturday evening after he was suspected to have contracted dengue .

MUMBAI: Jailed NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal was admitted to JJ Hospital on Saturday evening after he was suspected to have contracted dengue .

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Dr Tatyarao Lahane, dean of the JJ Hospital, said that Bhujbal had body pain, low platelet count and fever, hinting at possible dengue diagnosis. Sources in the Arthur Road Jail said that a team of doctors from JJ hospital visited Bhujbal after he showed symptoms of fever.

The team found that Bhujbal had viral fever and platelet count in his blood had dropped.“Since the symptoms are very similar to dengue, we have sent the blood samples for testing at JJ Hospital. The report is awaited,” said one of the doctors.

The NCP leader is lodged in the Arthur Road jail since then.

SLUM DWELLERS OUTSHINE THE RICH

The slum dwellers of Mumbai are better informed about the ongoing dengue menace than their richer counterparts, data released by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) revealed.

Inspection data collected from over 74 lakh homes, to locate mosquito breeding grounds, shows that while 1,828 mosquito breeding grounds were found in slum areas, the BMC issued notices to houses four times the number in non-slum areas.

There have been 1,513 confirmed cases of dengue this year, of which 122 cases were confirmed in September. The BMC has issued notices to about 13,593 houses for failing during the inspection and legal process is underway in 927 of the cases. “More than Rs 26 lakh was collected through penalties in the conviction cases,” said Rajan Naringrekar, a BMC officer. “Residents should not store water in containers for long periods of time.,” he said.

(With inputs from Sadaguru Pandit)